Multilateralism flops again: “President Obama and other world leaders have decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement at a global climate conference scheduled for next month, agreeing instead to make it the mission of the Copenhagen conference to reach a less specific ‘politically binding’ agreement that would punt the most difficult issues into the future.” Apparently, Obama has once again not been able, by the mere force of his presence, to move other nations to do what they’d rather not.

In case you thought U.S. prisons were a good place for terrorists: “Ten months before Al Qaeda in 2001 struck a deathblow in the heart lower Manhattan, one of the terrorist group’s founding members plunged a sharpened comb through [Louis] Pepe’s left eye and into his brain, blinding the 42-year-old prison guard and causing severe brain injuries that plague him to this day. Pepe told FoxNews.com he worries that sending Mohammed and four of his alleged fellow 9/11 conspirators to New York could compromise the safety of the guards at the MCC prison.”

Lynn Sweet: “About a year ago, thousands jammed Grant Park in Chicago to celebrate Barack Obama’s election to the White House, a communal civic defining moment. But those giddy days are long gone as Democrats in Illinois face the potential of losing the Senate seat President Obama once held next November.”

Another potential consequence of PelosiCare: “By teeing up a public battle over abortion in the health care bill now before the Senate, congressional Democrats could be risking more than just the fate of the legislation. Hanging in the balance are millions of Catholic swing voters who moved decisively to the Democrats in 2008 and who could shift away just as readily in 2010. … ‘There could be political repercussions in the election. It could be harder for the Democrats to keep those Catholics voters they gained and they may put some of their members at risk,’ said John Green, a religion and politics expert at the Bliss Institute at the University of Akron.”

Chris Caldwell: “The public is increasingly certain that the killings are a case of terrorism. Government and military leaders argue that we must not leap to conclusions, and that we are just as likely to be dealing with a variety of mental illness. A lot hinges on whether we think of Maj. Hasan as a mental case or a soldier of jihad.” It seems that the public is less inclined than the chattering class to buy the psycho-babble explanation.

David Axelrod takes a shot at Mitt Romney for taking a shot at Obama’s inability to make a decision. The White House seems a tad defensive on the topic these days, as well they should be.

James Pinkerton reminds us that we have gotten precious little from the Russians since the “reset,” explaining that “the Russians are not following through on their promise to allow America to establish an aerial supply corridor into Afghanistan. Back in July, they promised to allow up to 4500 flights a year from their territory, to facilitate American logistics for the war effort. So four months later, how many flights have there been? Zero.”

And on his Asia trip, Obama is “confronting the limits of engagement and personal charm.” Not a single foreign-policy success to come from all the smart diplomacy, it seems.

The first of many perhaps: “The family of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl expressed disappointment with the Obama administration’s decision to try the professed killer of their son, alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in a civilian court. … ‘We are respectful of the legal process, but believe that giving confessed terrorists a worldwide platform to publicize their ideology sends the wrong message to potential terrorists, inviting them, in essence, to resort to violence and cruelty in order to gain publicity.’”

Rep. Pete Hoesktra on the decision to try KSM in New York: “This is ideology run wild. We’re going to go back into New York City, the scene of the tragedy on 9/11. We’re now going to rip that wound wide open and it’s going to stay open for, what, two, three, four years as we go through the circus of a trial in New York City?” Yup. He explains that we have an alternative: “I would have put him through the military tribunal process. We started that process. They pled guilty. Why won’t the president take guilty for an answer and say now let’s go on to the sentencing phase?”